With the end of the meeting came a very passionate prayer from the pope, and a closing statement from the queen, officially dismissing the parliament.

  As the meeting ended, all the civil servants of the parliament respectfully exited the room, bowing to the queen, pope and I before exiting, making sure their backs never faced us. Even Hanol had to turn around and walk backwards down to the lower levels until leaving along with everyone else. The only ones left in the room after about ten minutes were the queen, the pope, Viro, myself and all my friends.

  “Viro, are the cameras off?” asked the queen.

  Viro held up a crystal tablet displaying several different icons and symbols. From my position, it looked like Nazalian numerals from 1 to 15. An X symbol crossed out each of them.

  “All 15 cameras have been disabled, Your Majesty,” he nodded.

  “Good.” She stood up and stretched her arms up high, tilting her body from side to side. “Now, what other matters require my attention?”

  The last thing on my agenda to talk about was Yamin’s situation, as well as how she related to the demons and the Family of Sai.

  All the remnant members of the meeting gathered around the center of the chamber, and that included the queen and pope too. With everyone in a much closer proximity, it made it much easier to talk.

  “Alright…” the queen spoke up. “I’ve been informed that one of your own has been personally targeted by these demonic invaders. Whichever of you it is, step forward.”

  Everyone looked at Yamin, who turned red and scrunched up her shoulders and put her fists shyly close to her mouth. When her courage built up slightly, she raised her hand to indicate her status as the person of interest.

  “Step forward,” The queen repeated her order with a stern voice.

  Yamin took one big leap forward, parting from her position from behind everyone.

  The queen observed her closely from head to toe, judgmentally narrowing her eyes on a few occasions when spotting mundane details of her appearance, mainly her school girl attire.

  “This is who the demons are truly after?” the queen looked on with disbelief. “She isn’t exactly as menacing an individual as I was expecting.” She lowered her scepter’s crystal head into her other hand and gripped it tightly. “I will warn you,” the queen continued, “you may be nothing more than an average girl on the outside, but I am willing to sacrifice anything in order to protect this nation from falling into demonic hands. If it comes down to it, I won’t hesitate to have you disposed of either.”

  I was so mad that the queen would suggest that! It was no different than what Mella was after, and I sure wasn’t going to let either of them hurt Yamin. But before I could air my grievance, Yamin spoke first.

  “You wouldn’t be the first to tell me that, Your Majesty,” She responded. Her words came as no surprise to the queen. “I’d like to see if there’s another option first.”

  “We all would,” the queen admitted. “But I fear the longer we wait to resolve this, the less choices we’ll have. It’s merely a worst case scenario.”

  That was a fear creeping in my mind too, but I didn’t feed into it the same way she did. I knew that no matter what, there had to be a way to help Yamin. There’s no way fate would lead her down the worst path.

  “What exactly happens if we can’t save or…kill Yamin?” Indena asked, cringing a little at that last part. “Because we need to have a plan for the worst case scenario.”

  Worst case scenario was that a demon makes her their queen and becomes a king of Heck. If that came to pass, the demon would probably take over the whole world. Belphegor managed to change reality even before becoming that king, I’d hate to find out what it would be like after.

  As they say though, the best way to fix a problem is by not letting it start in the first place.

  “Things won’t get to that point,” I proudly declared, not sure where those confident words were coming from within me. “I’m all of your star, and I’ll never let the darkness take you over.”

  I then turned to Yamin, focusing especially on her suddenly twinkling eyes. “That includes you, Yamin,” I added.

  Now everyone had a glint in their eyes, not quite as fantastic as Yamin, as they reflected quietly on my brave words. They needed hope right now that things weren’t going to get worse, and that hope was going to have to be me, even if I wasn’t sure how it was going to go down.

  “Very well,” the queen broke the silence. “I’d also like to advise the church to prepare its own set of light bearing warriors to aid in the Eighth Star’s heroics.”

  “You mean, like a stardust crusa…” Indena got cut off.

  “So be it, your majesty,” The pope nodded. “We will prepare the inquisition with weaponry and blessings, making them ready at any time to fight demons.”

  I wondered if those inquisitors would be as weird as the ones back in Urnan.

  “Your Holiness…” Yamin spoke up to the pope. “I don’t exactly have much right to make suggestions here, but would it be possible if I and the book could stay at the church here in Congerlin?”

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  The pope really liked her suggestion and so did the queen. The pope himself claimed that the book could be contained in a blessed seal container, which would allow it to be housed there safely.

  Viro had an amendment to the plan. “Wouldn’t it also be wise to allow our fledgling angel to train there as well and watch over her?” Viro asked, smiling at me.

  That didn't sound like a bad idea to me either. Staying near Yamin would all but ensure her safety. I could also train under a priest or something to learn how to utilize stardust better. I needed to train it up anyways.

  There was one advocate against that plan however.

  “I would like to respectfully ask you to reconsider this idea,” Cynthia said.

  “What do you mean, Miss Cynthia?” I asked.

  She brought up that Yamin was put under a lot of stress when separated from her book. In order to properly house them both at the church, we’d have to keep those two things apart for a while.

  Based on my bio scans, Yamin was holding onto that book for a similar reason as people who got addicted to drugs. There was no telling how it might deteriorate her mental condition to be away from it for a long stretch of time, not that she was willing to let it go in the first place. And if anyone tried to forcibly take the book, those cursed flames would spark up.

  To make things more complicated, the church had a holy domain around it, meaning unless it was contained in something blessed, Yamin wouldn't be allowed to go in with it in hand.

  “Guess that plan went to crap,” Indena commented. “Stupid sparkle face can’t let go of it.”

  “Sorry guys…” she looked really sad, but it wasn’t her fault. That book was really messing with her head and was difficult to deal with.

  “If I may make an alternate suggestion…” Cynthia spoke up. “Mistress Adalyn’s home is prepared to safely house all of you. We could even make accommodations to comply with the church.”

  That wasn’t ideal, but right now our options weren’t very plentiful. I didn't expect the pope and queen to sign off on the idea, but after a moment of near hypnotic silence from both of them, they seemed to favour it more then even letting her into the church. There eyes looked a bit funny for a second there, like they were lost and without life. Very odd...

  "Hmm..." Viro hummed as we shared a confused look. "Are you sure about that, Your Majesty?"

  "Yes," she answered in a flat tone. "The... uh..." her head shook like she was coming back to her senses. "The Eighth Star staying near her is the most important part."

  No matter how much Viro warned her against it, she was unusually adamant, even threatening him to stay silent about his reservations.

  Anyways, as long as I was there, they had little worry about. A demon would think twice before challenging me!

  “Before we adjourn this,” Uncle spoke up, “there is something else I should let you know about the Family of Sai…”

  The queen tilted her head, awaiting Uncle’s words.

  He brought up Janus, the Family of Sai member we had in custody from a year ago. He was also working to cause eternal darkness across the world.

  “I’d like to bring him here for interrogation, if you’d allow,” Uncle offered.

  If Uncle left to go get Janus, that meant he’d be gone for a bit. I wasn’t even sure how he’d get to Elysium without the Nalnara network being active at all.

  The queen liked his idea and green lit it. Having Janus around would potentially give us a whole new dimension of what to expect from the Family of Sai. No offence to Indena, but she was in the dark about the whole global eternal darkness thing.

  So it was decided that Yamin and I would be staying with the group and head back to Miss Adalyn’s mansion. Miss Lauri and her team of researchers would try to find a Nalnara portal. And finally, Uncle was going to leave me to go and get Janus from Elysium…

  Wait, Uncle was leaving? It only just then hit me that we were going to be separated…

  ~☆☆☆~

  When we were back outside, taking a brisk walk across the city back to our vehicle. There was little agency in our steps, so nobody was in any rush to head out.

  A particularly nice overhang balcony came into view that overlooked a large portion of the city. It was high up enough that the horizon could be seen. One of the moons was setting off in the west, likely Ecla, the moon of harvest.

  We all stopped to give the sight a good viewing. Uncle was next to me, and pulled me in close as if giving me a side hug. The warmth of his jacket was a good comfort.

  “Nice view, yeah?” Uncle said.

  “It’s super pretty,” I replied.

  I knew what he was about to tell me. We’ve shared some very comforting moments together as family, but this time it was mixed with caution, dread, and sorrow.

  “Yalda, I'll be gone for a little while,” he said. “Likely about a day or two at most.” He took off his hat and put it over my head. It was a little big on me, so it dropped right over my eyes. “Hold onto that for me, would you? The prison in Elysium is a bit dusty, and I'd hate to have my favourite hat ruined.”

  I kept the fedora over my eyes to hide my tears. I didn’t want him to go. Him leaving now felt way too much like daddy leaving, and that just made me feel ill to the core. A fight came out of me as I cried and begged for him not to leave, or at least to take me with him.

  “Yalda, you’re a strong girl, and you need to stay with Yamin,” Uncle encouraged me by lifting up the hat. “I know you can handle just a few days. Besides…” he gestured over to everyone, who looked like they were in some heated debate of some kind and not paying attention, “your new friends are here for you. They’ll support you when times get tough.”

  “Uncle…” I leaned forward, attempting to fight more tears from claiming my eyes. “Just a couple of days?” I tilted my head, trusting he wouldn’t lie.

  “Just a couple. Then I promise I’ll be back.”

  It was hard to agree to his terms, just based on the simple fact that I didn’t want to… But I decided to be a big girl and trust he’d come back. In the meantime, while I waited for him, my friends would be the ones I’d lean on.

  Miss Lauri broke off from the debate and approached, a smile on her face that exuded warmth. Her hand was just as cozy while it pulled me close for a comforting embrace.

  “Oh Mel…” she shook her head toward Uncle, still holding a smile. “When will you learn its horrible manners to make a girl cry?”

  On instinct, he tried to hide his face with his hat, but it was currently on my head. He chuckled at the blunder and let out a breath.

  “I feel like in another life, I was a bit too good at it.”

  -A little Sketch of Yalda and her Uncle before parting ways-

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